*UPDATED* Big Megapixel Camera Next Week.

[gmrza]

His eyes lifted, "since we got the 5D2 - 3 years ago, we haven't sold a single 1DsIII. At 3 years the 5D3 would be more than a suitable release and more than able to match most of Nikons plans, It doesn't even need that much work to get them selling in volumes quicker than Canon can produce them, and certainly the equal of any D800 nikon might have to offer! This would leave Canon till Christmas to sort out their 1D stragey ready for the games..."

You've actually raised an interesting point:

There is a rather limited market for the 1DsIII - most shops, with the exception of pro dealers would not have sold many 1DsIIIs anyhow.  On the other hand the 5DII sells like hotcakes.

Even if the 5DII has cannibalised a lot of 1DsIII sales, the net result for Canon has probably been a good one.

It would not surprise me if the higher volumes make for better margins on the 5DII.  Is there anyone who has specific knowledge of this?  (I mean margins for Canon, not for distributors and retailers.)  Canon cannot go to market without the 1DsIII though, as then they would give up ground to Nikon.

If however Canon appeal more to the medium format market with the 1DsIV, that may change things.

[NotABunny]

All i say is - it had better have a dual memory card slot and better focusing, or the D800 is me!

Why does everyone go gaga over dual card slots?

Reliability!

[Flake]

I've a feeling that I'm going to be laughing my socks off when the first reviews of the new Nikon cameras come in.  So many reviewers blatently biased to Nikon have come up with every reason under the sun as to why the 12 MP count of the D3, D3s and D700 is actually better than a higher MP sensor, will now have to show an extraordinary double think when Nikon release a high MP count sensor.

For a long time Nikon have been behind the curve when it comes to sensors, the D1H only had 2.7MP at a time when Canon 1D had 4.5MP, The 1Ds had 11MP while the D1x was only 6MP.  Canon was all Cmos Nikon was CCD, but the proof of the quality is that there are still people using the 1Ds as a serious professional camera, while I've never seen anyone using a D1x because it won't cut it any more.  But look back at the reviews, and you'll find the ever present bias towards what now appear obviously inferior Nikon products.

I hope very much that the new Nikon is a good camera, and that it is reviewed objectively and fairly.  I hope it is a high MP count sensor, if only to wipe the smug grin of a friend with a D3 who delights in telling me how quickly his (small) files are processed, and how many shots he can get onto one 8GB card!

[UncleFester]

If however Canon appeal more to the medium format market with the 1DsIV, that may change things.

Based on cost and convenience? If I had a digital medium format, I would probably retire the 1ds to do faster work - sports, etc. MF would do all portraits, formal stuff, etc

I don't think they are competitive markets.

[NotABunny]

I hope it is a high MP count sensor, if only to wipe the smug grin of a friend with a D3 who delights in telling me how quickly his (small) files are processed, and how many shots he can get onto one 8GB card!

Nah, they'll just drop on their knees and with tear in their eyes they'll decry to all the gods that Nikon has subsided to the dark side, showing as proof a pixel from a 10 MP FF sensor compared to one from the new 20...30 MP FF sensor.

[UncleFester]

I've a feeling that I'm going to be laughing my socks off when the first reviews of the new Nikon cameras come in.  So many reviewers blatently biased to Nikon have come up with every reason under the sun as to why the 12 MP count of the D3, D3s and D700 is actually better than a higher MP sensor, will now have to show an extraordinary double think when Nikon release a high MP count sensor.

For a long time Nikon have been behind the curve when it comes to sensors, the D1H only had 2.7MP at a time when Canon 1D had 4.5MP, The 1Ds had 11MP while the D1x was only 6MP.  Canon was all Cmos Nikon was CCD, but the proof of the quality is that there are still people using the 1Ds as a serious professional camera, while I've never seen anyone using a D1x because it won't cut it any more.  But look back at the reviews, and you'll find the ever present bias towards what now appear obviously inferior Nikon products.

I hope very much that the new Nikon is a good camera, and that it is reviewed objectively and fairly.  I hope it is a high MP count sensor, if only to wipe the smug grin of a friend with a D3 who delights in telling me how quickly his (small) files are processed, and how many shots he can get onto one 8GB card!

The images I saw from a beta version of their flagship (not sure if they're using that exact model or not) were pretty impressive esp the low light pics. But, that photographer was also pretty impressed with the 5DII pics that I showed him. Hmmmm....

[Gothmoth]

Not looking for megapixels -- 21 is already too many for FF. Huge files, slow transfers, slow processing.

that´s why the new cameras get a new processor.

[BennyJ]

But of course, what we'll GET is... more megapixels. Bigger files. Slower processing. Slower transfers. Oh yeah, and more effort wasted on trying to inappropriately multipurpose these beautiful still cameras into video cameras. And maybe a new battery style so as to obsolete the hugely expensive ones we've already bought.

Totally agree with you.

[Bob Howland]

Consider an alternative line of thinking. Canon has already established the precedent that there would be a 5D3 which has the same resolution as a 1Ds4.

Please explain how they established that precedent. The original 5D had lower resolution than the then-current 1Ds model. The 5D Mark II has the same resolution as the current 1Ds model. So, if I flip a coin and it's heads, and the next time it's tails, tails is the precedent, and the third flip will surely be tails? Woah baby, Vegas here I come!  The only 'precedent' I see is that the 5DIII will NOT have *more* resolution than the 1DsIV, and even then, n=2 makes for a pretty flimsy precedent.

Oh, c'mon, don't go all statistical on me! Will you at least admit that a lot of people EXPECT that the 5D3 will have the same number of pixels as the 1Ds4 and would make their buying decisions based on that expectation? (The 5D2 is the more recent precedent and therefore is more salient.) The poster I was responding to certainly seemed to assume that.

[Bob Howland]

I've a feeling that I'm going to be laughing my socks off when the first reviews of the new Nikon cameras come in.  So many reviewers blatently biased to Nikon have come up with every reason under the sun as to why the 12 MP count of the D3, D3s and D700 is actually better than a higher MP sensor, will now have to show an extraordinary double think when Nikon release a high MP count sensor.

As I recall, most of them stopped arguing that when the D3x was introduced.

[-zero-]

Oh, c'mon, don't go all statistical on me! Will you at least admit that a lot of people EXPECT that the 5D3 will have the same number of pixels as the 1Ds4 and would make their buying decisions based on that expectation? (The 5D2 is the more recent precedent and therefore is more salient.) The poster I was responding to certainly seemed to assume that.

5DII and 1DsIII have the same sensor probably for cost saving reasons, Canon probably thought it could differentiate these 2 models using the other features of the 1 series, what happened is what we all know 5DII cannibalized so much of the 1DsIII that it almost killed it

the fact that the sensors were the same made studio photographers think: why should I pay 2X the price for faster autofocus and weather sealing and tank like build in my studio with no IQ improovement


the recent rumors about a high mpx 5DIIi and very high mpx 1dsIV indicates that canon will not repeat the same mistake and (hopefully) put some more advanced features (autofocus, metering, fps ...) in the 5DII and differentiate from 1 series with mpx

[Vinniej]

I've a feeling that I'm going to be laughing my socks off when the first reviews of the new Nikon cameras come in.  So many reviewers blatently biased to Nikon have come up with every reason under the sun as to why the 12 MP count of the D3, D3s and D700 is actually better than a higher MP sensor, will now have to show an extraordinary double think when Nikon release a high MP count sensor.

As I recall, most of them stopped arguing that when the D3x was introduced.

Many Nikon users would be more than happy with 20+ MP if the cost was reasonable and high iso performance was not sacrificed.  The D3x is great but Nikon needs something to compete with the price of the 5D MKIII when it comes to high MP count.

[Bokehmon]

I've a feeling that I'm going to be laughing my socks off when the first reviews of the new Nikon cameras come in.  So many reviewers blatently biased to Nikon have come up with every reason under the sun as to why the 12 MP count of the D3, D3s and D700 is actually better than a higher MP sensor, will now have to show an extraordinary double think when Nikon release a high MP count sensor.

As I recall, most of them stopped arguing that when the D3x was introduced.

The difference between 12 and 24 megapixels is not as big as most people make it to be. It is only like a 40%  increase in linear resolution... what would make a difference is a 24 megapixel camera without an AA filter, or a weak one. Moire is not as common bad as people make it seem, and it can be removed with PP.

In face, canon should design camera + lens profiles dpp and have all imported photos automatically processed. that way, lens design can concentrate on resolution and bokeh rather than distortion, CAs and vignetting.
Many Nikon users would be more than happy with 20+ MP if the cost was reasonable and high iso performance was not sacrificed.  The D3x is great but Nikon needs something to compete with the price of the 5D MKIII when it comes to high MP count.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Why does everyone go gaga over dual card slots?

Data protection.  Memory cards do fail or get corrupted occasionally.

yeah but how often is that?
Over 6 years of sometimes extremely heavy usage I've had not a single failure.
So wouldn't something like say 6-8fps rather than 4fps be a MUCH bigger deal on it than dual card slots???

[J-Man]

Re: RAID, what about a 3 way parallel data dump from the buffer, to 3 cards, and optionally followed by parity calculations and their writes when the buffer is empty and the cards are not being used for new image files.
[card A] img1, img4... {par-bc} img2a, img3a...
[card B] img2, img5... {par-ac} img1b, img3b...
[card C] img3, img6... {par-ab} img1c, img2c...
so if card c fails, you get 2/3 of your images quickly, and the last 1/3 after recovery.
Combined with the future card sizes & USB3/Thunderbolt...CFast!
could be very useful.

I would also like to see wireless transfer built in, direct to ipad/tablet/laptop/network.

Re: binning, Any reasons why binning on sensor can't be done? It would have to work with a global shutter.

Re: "surprise everyone with a big megapixel camera"(to me big means close to 30MP).
The Nikon announcement is hardly a surprise, but what they announcement could be, D4, D800, D400 are the main contenders, I'm guessing 20ish MP for the D4, I wouldn't call that "big", could be the "surprise" is that it's more like 24MP, which the D400 could have too(same as a77).

Sony have an announcement also, though there is rumored to be no FF cameras till 2012, the a77 will have 24MP. A ~30MP FF announcement would be a surprise.

Samsung has an announcement coming, The NX200 is rumored to have 20MP, but I wouldn't call it "a big megapixel camera".

I think a Canon announcement would be the biggest surprise.